RESPECT. Online Exclusive: "High Definition" - An Interview w/ Hit-Boy - RESPECT.

Images by Jeaneen Lund
Exclusive outtakes available via Tumblr

Just when you think you got hip-hop culture figured out—it switches up on you. Who would’ve thought one of our culture’s biggest stars would be a half-Jewish Canadian kid with the gift of melody? That the Queens-bred female MC who spit on street DVDs would become a pop culture icon that even Madonna must cosign? That the most promising MC from NYC was named after a Big Apple legend but sounds like he was raised in Houston, Texas? Trill shit.

It’s the unpredictability of it all that keeps me from snickering when, with unbridled passion, California-bred producer Hit-Boy explains he has plans of picking up the mic. The beatmaker behind The Throne’s mega-smash “Niggas in Paris” living out his Kanye West fantasies to the highest level may seem far-fetched, but hey, who thought Donda’s baby boy would ever be one of the great ones? Even his own label, Roc-A-Fella Records, didn’t foresee it.

Without even putting out his own song yet, Hit-Boy, a true social-media monster, has the whole music industry talking with his #JayZInterview hashtag, a constant on Twitter with all the unspoken mystery surrounding it. It’s actually the name of Hit’s upcoming debut single. And guess what? It sounds pretty good. Do you believe?

You dreamed, and then you worked hard to put yourself in this position. How do you feel right now?

I’m in a great place. It’s something I’ve always seen. Obviously there were times when I got down and didn’t know if it was going to happen, but I just kept the love for the music. I remember I had a conversation with Pharrell when I was 18. He was like, “Just make sure you keep the love for the art. Keep the love for the music.” I understood. But now I really get it.

What do you think was the key to your breakthrough?

The stars aligned. Obviously, the “Paris” record. I’d done a bunch of stuff, though, man. From doing singles for Mary J. Blige, the [Lil Wayne and Eminem] “Drop the World” record, and shit wasn’t popping off the way I wanted it to. I felt like I just needed that one, and I got it with “Niggas in Paris.” That opened everybody’s eyes to the level of quality that I bring to the game. I’m here, and I’m ready to be a staple. I just gotta keep doing me.

How did “Paris” come about? Take me through the process. I know you’d built a relationship with Kanye, but how exactly did you become one of the producers to get placement on Watch The Throne? Everybody was going for that.

It’s a real blessing. Kanye’s cousin Ricky is from the same area where I’m from, so I got introduced to him through a mutual friend. That’s how “Christmas in Harlem” came about. I was sending him beats—trying to get on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. [Ricky would] always tell me, “Yo, ’Ye really fucks with your shit.” I thought he was bullshitting, didn’t think he was really playing him the beats. He was at a listening session for MBDTF, and he called and was like, “’Ye is about to put a Christmas song on one of your beats.” It ended up being “Christmas in Harlem.” That got my name out there, and then “Paris.” A month after “Christmas in Harlem,” we flew to Dubai, worked on some stuff, and then flew to New York for a few weeks. I was actually in [the studio] with ’Ye and Hov working on WTT, a bunch of different stuff—we did mad songs. “Paris” was not played one time the whole time I was out there; that was just a beat I’d sent to Ricky for MBDTF. I guess they were just in Paris and pulled the shit up. I had a conversation with ’Ye’s engineer, and he was saying, “‘That shit cray’ was the first shit ’Ye said when he heard the beat.” That was just God breaking through and knowing what to do. All my hard work and my positive spirits, my positive outlook, that’s how that came about.

When you make beats, you may not have the same vision as the artist. Kanye always tells the story about how he gave Jay “This Can’t Be Life,” and he didn’t want the introspective Jay on it. What was your reaction when you heard what Jay and Kanye did with the track?

That beat was just fun, supreme baller shit—like my nigga Pusha would say [laughs]. When you go to the club and hear that joint, you have to move. It’s one of the most distinctive records in a long time. That’s why it got so big. It’s just fresh. They executed it perfectly. As simple as it is, it still sounds big as fuck. It has a different bounce to it. It evoked emotion in people. I swear I can’t go around anybody that knows I made the beat [without them] whistling the sound.

People are real clear: They know Hit-Boy is behind the track.

I’ve always been on the branding shit. I can go back to MySpace, to fixing up my page—I’d just attract people. People are just into the movement, with Surf Club and everything I’m doing, even with the fashion shit and being a fresh dude. That’s always been my shit, beyond the music. I’m here to inspire the younger generation—the 16-year-old kid who’s watching me. I was 16, Kanye was 24, and I was watching him. Now there are kids on my Twitter watching what I’m doing.

You’re heavy on Twitter. Social media—did that always attract you? Now artists have to have a social presence.

I got my real start on MySpace, met producer Polow Da Don, who was running shit in like ’06, ’07. He hit me up because of some beats he heard on my page—we just linked. He helped me build some relationships that I’m still using to this day. I just really took advantage of MySpace, Facebook, Twitter. You have to really utilize it properly.

Talk about Chase N. Cashe and Surf Club. How did that come together, and what role does that have in your life?

I started Surf Club when I was 17. Not even on no music shit. It started with some young kids just hanging out, going to get at girls. We called ourselves the Surf Club. We had this artist named Chilli Chill; he started saying the name in his music, and it just started building from there. I met Chase on MySpace, actually. He was staying in L.A., we linked up, and the first time we ever sat down, we made, like, the craziest shit ever. We built a bond and just kept going, kept branding it. Going hard on social media, getting out there with YouTube, doing videos, people just took a liking. He has a great relationship with Drake, he is on tour with him. He did “Look What You’ve Done.” We’ve just been branding the shit together, trying to make a powerhouse.

What’s your process now, in terms of whom you decide to work with?

It’s kind of a priority thing. Sometimes I’m still just sending beats. It depends on what the situation is. Time is more precious now, because I do have access to people like Kanye. He is listening to what I have to say creatively and taking more beats from me. Obviously he gave me my first real hit record—that’s loyalty by default. I want to give him the hot shit. This is my G.O.O.D. Music family, period. But then, you know, I got my thing going. I have so much music. I feel like I can go into any session, with any artist, and have at least 10 beats to play for them. I’m just working.

Take me through your process. What inspires you to make beats? Do you have certain rituals or is it on the fly?

It’s more so on the fly. I like to create how I create, I never force it. You can’t force creativity, obviously. I like to have fun and be free. I can take orders—obviously, you have to when working with certain artists—but I like to just make what I make, at the highest quality I can. It kind of just comes together.

Do you have certain equipment you rely on heavily?

I use [FL Studio, formerly known as] Fruity Loops. I think because of its name, and since it’s a cheap program, it isn’t respected. Fruity Loops—that’s the main thing, that’s what I’m representing. That’s what I’ve been on since I was 16, and I think I’m going to be on it forever.

Do you get in on the sample side of it? Or do you more so come up with your own stuff, like keyboard lines?

I do it all. I can sample, I play keys. I just make music any type of way I get inspired. If I pull up a sample and I hear a chop, I’ll chop it up. If not, I’ll play the keyboard—whatever. I just make music.

The priority now seems like the G.O.O.D. Music compilation. You guys were in Europe working on that. Is that up front in terms of your next placements?

That and a couple of joints on Nicki Minaj’s album. Doing some stuff with DJ Khaled, and some stuff with ’Ye for his solo album.

What was it like working with Minaj?

She is cool as hell, just has a great spirit and is talented as shit. She just jumped on it.

You built with Kanye, and it seems like you got acclimated into the whole crew. Tell me about you guys in London, the camaraderie with the crew and how important that is in creating good art.

I can take it all the way back to the Mercer [Hotel] sessions. That’s when I first met everybody from Cudi on down, and everybody treated me like a brother from day one. Me and Cudi, the first day we met each other, we made a dope-ass song. When you’re around ’Ye, there’s no type of ego shit. You’re there to make music, do your best job. You know you’re going to sell records, and it’s going to be some groundbreaking shit. There are always creative juices flowing with that many dope muthafuckas in the room. ’Ye just knows how to put them together, mesh people up, make the best sound possible.

It’s amazing that Kanye, one of the best producers of all time, is so good with vibing and collaborating with other producers.

He really knows how to convey his ideas. He may not know how to play the keys, but he knows exactly what sound to make so I can comprehend it and know what to do. He knows how to talk to people, get his point across. And it’s him, man…he’s known for great albums, great music. You gotta fuck with it.

You have aspirations of being an artist. What timetable do you see yourself on for showcasing that side of you?

I’m working on it all. A few months ago, I wasn’t even thinking about really going into it, even though I started rapping when I was 13, before I was ever making beats. I just really got into the production. I was like, “I’m going to do this first. If it comes back around, then it does.” I’m just creating right now, letting the chips fall, putting some plans together. I’m going to put something out soon, just for the people, and let it build.

Kanye was always talking about how, at first, people didn’t want to take him seriously as an artist…on the mic.

For the most part, I feel like people don’t want to miss out again. So many slept on ’Ye, they’re feeling like, Damn, you never know. Even ’Ye, I wasn’t even thinking of playing him my shit, and when he heard it, he was fucking with it. Everybody—every label I played my music for—pretty much offered me a deal. People understand quality. They know what I’m capable of.

What’s your approach when you rap on a track? Does a different side of you click?

It definitely just clicks when I’m focusing on myself. I’m thinking about my own life, my struggle, what I’ve got going on. I’m a laid-back person, but when people hear me rap, they’re always like, “Damn, I didn’t know you could rap that fast.” I’m just getting my point across, my life, what I know, what I see every day, girls I might run across. Real life situations, more so what I’m on.

What was it like vibing with Jay for the first time? Were you nervous?

We were in New York. It was cold as a shit—and I’m a Cali dude, for real. I asked ’Ye if he needed me for anything, and he told me no, so I walked to this bar down the street, kickin’ it for like five minutes. ’Ye e-mailed me, “I need you to come back to the studio.” I walked back to the Mercer, opened the door and Hov is sitting on the couch watching the Lakers game. I’m like, Wow. I’d heard horror stories—that he don’t speak to anybody. This dude was just the coolest nigga ever. He was talking to me, telling me how talented I was, how much of a smash all these records I was making were, asking me where I’m from. I didn’t know what to say. We started watching the game, started talking about Kobe, just vibed. It was dope. We were in the hotel rooms, and you know how the sound bleeds through? Hov was in the room right next to me recording a verse. His engineer knocked at the door, asked if I could turn the music down, I turned it down. Ten minutes later, I got another knock and was like, Damn, is it still too loud? It was Hov. He walked in and was like, “Play me some shit.” I played him a beat, and he was really fucking with it. I was like, Damn, this nigga really reps me. Every time we get around each other, it’s super cool. That’s Hov. That shit is still mind-blowing to me [laughs].

Explain #JayZInterview [laughs].

Aw, man. That was a title I came up with before I even wrote the song. I knew I wanted to do a song with that name; it’s so potent. Even when I hashtag it on Twitter…

[Laughs] You caused a frenzy with that shit.

[Laughs] Exactly, I’ve always been kind of good with that. From a branding perspective, that’s a great name, and I finally got the right beat. Bink gave me the beat. He’s a legendary Roc-A-Fella producer, did three joints on The Blueprint. I played him my music a couple months ago, and he was fucking with it, so he sent me some beats. I heard this beat and was like, That’s #JayZInterview. The epicness, the triumphant-ness…I’m just getting my point across, just talking about my life situation, the epicness of fucking with ’Ye and Hov and the Roc-A-Fella era. It’s a Hit-Boy record.

You haven’t played it for Jay yet?

I have not. I just paid Bink for the beat. I’m about to bring him out here to mix it. When I mix it, I’m going to go wherever Hov is at and play it for him.

That’s the first thing you’re going to put out, to test the waters?

Definitely, to let the people know I actually can rap. It’s not no gimmick bullshit. I do have real records that can be for radio. I definitely want to let people hear.

Do you worry sometimes that there may be too much of you connected to Kanye—that it could hurt you? Transitioning from producer to MC.

Not really. I’m positive and I’m forward-thinking. I expect greatness out of whatever I do, whether its production, writing a song for somebody or writing a song for myself. There’s always a gap—it’s been almost 10 years since we had this person who’s forward-thinking musically, forward-thinking with his thoughts, period. I feel like I can be that person—not to say I’m the next whatever. I feel that I can be that person who the youth can look up to and want to be like, dress like, talk like. When was 15 listening to ’Ye, I wanted to make music like him. I feel like I’m on that path.

You feel like you see a lane open, so why not take full advantage.

Exactly. That’s what I’m on, man.